Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Sing Tao Daily

The Sing Tao Daily is Hong Kong's second largest Chinese language newspaper. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation Limited, of which Ho Tsu Kwok, Charles is the chairman. Its English language sister paper is ''The Standard''. The ''Sing Tao'' also maintains the news website .

There are also at least 16 overseas editions of the ''Sing Tao Daily'', which are published by 9 overseas bureaus and circulated in 100 cities around the world. The overseas editions help facilitate easy access to homeland news for Chinese language readers outside China.

History

The parent company of the ''Sing Tao Daily'', the Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited, was founded in 1938 and is based in Hong Kong. The ''Sing Tao Daily'' was first published in the same year. It has one of the longest publishing histories among the Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong.

After opening its first overseas office in San Francisco in 1975, the ''Sing Tao'' set up International News Centres in New York, , San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, London and Sydney. In all, the company now has twenty-two offices globally.

In 1998, members of the management team were found guilty of falsifying market data. The Hong Kong government's decision not to charge the chairwoman Wu Sin for reasons of "public benefit" turned into a scandal for the Hong Kong legal system and was quoted as a reason for the million's march on July 1, 2003. Shortly after, financial problems forced Wu Sin to sell out her stock in the Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited.

Market

The ''Sing Tao Daily'' has chosen to refresh its image and editorial content by positioning itself as the newspaper of choice for the middle class, who demand a more high-brow content. Sing Tao Daily also targets students by offering them cheaper subscription editions.

The ''Sing Tao Daily'' overseas editions target Chinese immigrants in foreign countries such as the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Creation of editorial product

The ''Sing Tao Daily''’s editorial product is created using daily Chinese language internet feeds from Hong Kong, together with national feeds from its news bureau in New York and from various regional editorial staff.

The information is transmitted electronically to the various production facilities where prepress departments compose the pages using the Chinese electronic publishing system FounderFit , which allows the Chinese language to be digitally typeset.

In August 2007 the San Francisco office stopped using all FounderFit applications for Newspaper production. Sing Tao San Francisco now uses page layout, ad production, tracking and classified pagination applications from SCS of Nazareth, Pa. Adobe InDesign and Quark are used for news pagination. Sing Tao Toronto, Vancouver and LA have also switched to the SCS production applications.

The Information Services Department is a combination of the former Sing Tao Daily Main Library, Sing Tao Daily Business Library, Hong Kong iMail/Hong Kong Standard Library and the Sing Tao EDP Team. The department aids the production process through the following:

* News research support, e.g. the maintenance of photograph and news archives, company and land searches, etc.

The Sing Tao Electronic Photo System acts as a complement to the Information Services Department. It provides wire photos from six popular news media, pictures used for daily publication, photographs taken by their own staff and photo archives. The photos are classified for easy retrieval.

News files, photos and other resources can be accessed through a web-based library resource catalogue.

Political stance

The ''Sing Tao'' has a pro-government history. Before the reunification of Hong Kong with China, it supported the ; and once Hong Kong turned into a special administrative region, it turned support to the Beijing government. This can easily be identified in the editorials, and it is also true for the overseas editions.

On 11 November 2001, the Quebec Supreme Court issued an injunction against the local edition of Sing Tao Daily for libel against the Falun Gong, which was outlawed in the People's Republic of China, a government that respects no religious freedom, as a "evil cult" and put under persecution.

Image promotion

The ''Sing Tao Daily'' has embarked upon many programmes to lift its brand positioning and stimulate its circulation and readership.

These have included the following:

* Editorial repositioning

* Opinion exchanges with readers

* A special edition with highlights of the ''Sing Tao Daily'''s core and enhanced content

* Special supplements, e.g. its series of supplements following the events of September 11, 2001, and pullouts

Some perceive the ''Sing Tao'' to be a traditional and conservative newspaper. It has recently launched a "daring and middle class" communication platform in an attempt to promote itself as being more contemporary.

Some firsts of the ''Sing Tao Daily''

* The ''Sing Tao Daily'' has the largest regional coverage among global Chinese communities and also has the second largest global coverage in the world, following the International Herald Tribune. Sing Tao pioneered satellite transmission and was the first newspaper available on opposite sides of the world on the same day.

* The Sing Tao Group is the only media group in Hong Kong that owns both Chinese and English language newspapers.

* The ''Sing Tao Daily'' was the first newspaper in Hong Kong to launch a website. On August 23, 1995, www.singtao.com was launched.

* The ''Sing Tao Daily'' was the first newspaper in Hong Kong to develop a parenting section, which helps parents with advice for their children's growth and development.

Website content

The news on the website of the ''Sing Tao Daily'' is generally the same as what can be found in the printed paper. Different versions of the website customized with local content can also be accessed by readers in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.